Bronze Jeans: Burda 1/2010 #136

Warning: there’s a lot of pictures in this post, and, well, no amount of tweaking can make my 40-something mother-multiple-times exercise-free butt look younger, childless or hawter. Don’t say you weren’t warned. 😉

I did it. I crossed into the world of the unknown and I did it! I cracked the jean mystery, peeps, and I am so EXCITED! I have long scoffed at the idea of making my own jeans. Whatever for? What a hassle. That’s just sewing geekiness. Not interested. But the idea of making jeans has a way of getting under one’s skin and wandering through one’s sewing plans, and more than once I was coerced by Linda at EmmaOneSock to buy stretch denim. For no reason except that it’s nice to have stretch denim in your stash, right? No plans for jeans here. Stretch denim can be used for a LOT of other clothing items besides jeans. So you see it’s really not my fault that I made a pair of jeans. The entire sewing universe has been conspiring to convert me.I’m so glad I did! I feel like I’ve taken one major sewing step forward. As I sewed this up, cracking the big jean mystery one seam at a time, it was amazing to learn how simple jean construction is. I used this model from Burda 1/2010 #136.I did not make a muslin specifically for this pair. After sewing up my one and only pair of skinnies from the Burda block, I had a pretty good idea of what needed to be altered, so I measured myself from various angles very carefully, and then measured the pattern very carefully. And re-measured.

I didn’t make any adjustments to the to the front, except to leave off that weird front patch between the front thighs. Why it is there? It looks…. well, uncomfortably embarrassing. Maybe their designers thought it would be interesting, but I didn’t like it. Besides, can you just picture it in this bronze denim with dark purple topstitching? *shudder* Wrong visual. BTW, the front crotch depth is good, but I’m not sure if the little extra fabric at the front crotch should be left or adjusted. I need to think about that more. It’s not uncomfortable and I don’t think it looks bad, but I still need to think about it from a “perfect fit” perspective. Any opinions on this would be lovely!I lengthened the back by one full inch by extending the crotch curve. This was a mistake because the inseam of this pair is 1 inch forward of where it should be. This is a good lesson to learn! I should have left the crotch alone and slashed and spread the length of the CB seam instead to get the length I needed. This would have left the inseam in its proper place. I did need to taper both the CB seam, the yoke and the waistband to fit the curve of my lower back. This was no big surprise, and since I was anticipating this adjustment as a last little fitting tweak, I constructed the back in such a way that the CB seam was the last to be stitched. I attached the waistband to the jeans and fit the CB seam, taking in about 3/4″ at the waist and tapering it to the hip level. Burda’s instructions suggested stitched the CB seam and topstitching it prior to attaching the waistband. Well, I knew that was going to be an un-picking nightmare, so I went down a different construction street quite happily.

My side seams are almost perfectly perpendicular to the floor, which is a good thing, and I don’t need to tell you fellow sewistas that I’m very happy about that. After taking these pics, however, it’s obvious the back thighs need to be shortened – probably a good 4cm – so the wrinkling under my butt goes away. I have some thoughts on this and will share them next post.

The pockets have a decorative self-fabric binding, which I wasn’t sure about. That could mean too many layers of denim to sew through, but after a couple of test runs on scraps I went ahead with it. It’s a unique detail that I’ve never seen on jeans before. Not that I’ve seen a lot of jeans in my life. But anyways… I used a denim needle for this project, and it stitched through all 5 layers of denim at the turned-under ends of the pocket binding with no complaints.The topstitching pattern for the back pockets is all Burda’s. I claim no credit for creativity. But I like these pockets.The belt loops were the other area I discarded Burda’s instructions. I was supposed to stitch a long tube and turn it. Uh. Right. I hate turning tubes of fabric on the best of slippery fabrics, so why would I want to do that on thick stretch denim? So I serged both long edges of the belt loop piece and turned the edges in on themselves in thirds, exactly like all the RTW jeans I inspected. It turned out to be a little wider in width than typical belt loops, so I took the opportunity to use one of the decorative stitches on my machine instead of just straight topstitching.I didn’t use studs to reinforce any pocket corners on this pair, although I studied every single pair of DH’s and DD1’s jeans to see where the studs were used. I wanted to keep this project simple without a lot of extraneous detail or embellishment. The only new-to-me hardware issues were the stud button and shortening the metal zipper by hand, neither of which was difficult or stress-inducing.And I added 2 inches of length. I may be vain, but IMHO, the added 2 inches give the illusion of longer legs than I really own. 😉 After finishing this pair and wearing them for a day, I can tell you I have more in the queue. Thanks to all of you sewing bloggers who have documented the process of making your own jeans. Without all your posts and pics and details and FO’s I would not have crossed the hurdle of jeans. You know who you are. 😉

Wow, wow, double wow!! Now you can say you have sewn everything from evening gowns to jeans and everything in between… awesome job – these look amazing on you, and I’d be pretty damn happy with that fit – no need to fix what ain’t broke 😉

Thanks! I’m planning my 2nd pair! 😉 The clogs are Stuart Weitzman and were on clearance off season at Brown’s in Yorkdale about 3 years ago – I think I got them at 80% off or something ridiculous like that! I love them – they are super comfortable!

I love your face in these pics! Congrats on getting a well fitted pair of jeans…now you know what this means right? You will now have to make them for your daughters…are you ready for that! 🙂 And of course the follow up question is, what pair is next?

I think these look great on your awesome curvy figure. I am still struggling with the fit of jeans and I’m interested to read your thoughts on adding width to the front thigh. You and I built very similarly and I fight the wrinkles in the top of the back legs also. Of course, when we MAKE jeans, we pick the fit apart!

Congratulations! I have been toying with the thought of “cracking the jean mystery.” It is a scary thought though, especially with the fitting issues I would have ! But yours are impressive indeed! They look fantastic and I can imagine you were SUPER excited! I would be! ~Laurie

Those jeans are lovely – and much more flattering than RTW jeans are for over 19s among us. Conquering jeans was may 2013 Sewlution, but I’ve sort of ground to a halt. You’ve inspired me to return to the challenge with renewed enthusiasm.

What a great first pair of jeans! You look so fabulous & happy in it. Lovely curves!

I’ve been too chicken to attempt one so far. One of these days, one of these days. But maybe I’ll wait for your post on tackling those under-bum wrinkles first. I get that with RTW jeans, so I’d want to find out how to tackle that fitting issue in any I make myself.

Congratulation. Looking forward to your next pair, and the one after that!

Awesome jeans!!!! Loved your pics, I can really feel your joy in conquering the jeans. And I have to add that I absolutely LOVED your description of your butt in the first sentence of this post! Be proud of it! Yay to mothers!

Congrats on your first pair of jeans. They look great and I think the length is perfect with your heels. You and I have similar body types and I’m always interested how you handle your fitting adjustments. I agree with you that the back thigh seems a little long, but it seems a little snug as well. You could add a little bit to the front thigh (I do this) and your side seams may fall even straighter. You have inspired me to get moving and cut out my first pair of jeans 🙂

Your jeans look great 🙂 I think the fit is really, really good. Sure you can tweak the next pair (we all think this way) but I think you got a great pair of fitted jeans. Now, you need to sew a pair in every colour! LOL!

Yippee! I’m working on the same thing! I’m so with you, the sewing universe conspired against me to make jeans. (Oh how many times did I almost order it from EOS, too? And then of course it just jumped in my stash.) These are really awesome and flattering. And I love wide belt loops, too, because I really use them. I just hate how belt loops get all flimsy and rumpled when they’re tiny. Congrats on such a great pair!
p.s. I love your cottage garden pathway…